Blogs from Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

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Africa » Cote d'Ivoire February 4th 2023

After hanging out in Istanbul for 10 days, it was off to the Ivory Coast for a 13-day trip booked with Explore. I’ve been to West Africa a couple of times previously but there a few countries between Guinea-Bissau and Ghana I have yet to see, hence my choice of the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast - Wikipedia Culture of Ivory Coast - Wikipedia Flights to the Ivory Coast are not plentiful, but Turkish Airlines flies into Abidjan, with a service stop on the way in Cotonou, Benin. The flight wasn’t full to Cotonou so I was able to have a row to myself for the first six hours. The plane then filled up in Cotonou, so thankfully it was only an hour more to Abidjan, where I deplaned. The Ivory Coast has an online e-visa process ... read more
0122 On the drive to Bouake1
0122 On the drive to Bouake2
0122 On the drive to Bouake3

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire April 26th 2022

You might be led to believe that an airline of such a low profile, and seemingly questionable set of credentials as Air Mauritania might not be the airline of choice for a relatively short hop flight within the African continent. Reality though was a totally different picture, and the airline felt and even looked as fine as very many others, and even offered a highly substantial airline meal in the process. I had not even arrived at Abidjan airport in the Ivory Coast, but clearly, the opening salvo was promising. A few formalities at the airport, and it was into a pre-booked taxi to get me to the resort town of Grand-Bassam further along the coast, infamous for being the location of a shooting attack a few years prior in 2016, but not the kind of ... read more
Abidjan
Yamoussoukro
Yamoussoukro

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South » Abidjan March 1st 2020

Come ho avuto modo di scrivere già da qualche altra parte, un'esperienza di viaggio nel continente africano non può dirsi completa senza aver compiuto almeno un attraversamento di frontiera via terra tra due dei suoi stati. Avendone compiuti questa volta ben 10, colgo l'occasione per riunirli qui di seguito e raccontare come si sono svolti. SPAGNA - MAROCCO: Dal porto di Algeciras un comodo ferry (1,5 ore - più o meno 30 euro) salpa alla volta del nuovo porto di Tangeri (Tanger Med), situato 50 Km ad Est, da cui si può prendere un comodo autobus di linea che in meno di un'ora arriva all'autostazione di Tangeri, poco lontana dal centro città. Le formalità doganali (non è richiesto nessun visto) vengono svolte "in acqua": all'imbarco si deve consegnare il passaporto all'ufficio informazioni che lo riconsegnerà al ... read more
Stazione dei taxi condivisi a Conakry
Dal Sahara Occidentale alla Mauritania: un campo minato
Una tipica frontiera africana

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South » Abidjan February 27th 2020

Capita spesso, in Africa, di trascorrere tutta la giornata compressi su di un sudicio e surriscaldato taxi in compagnia di un'altra decina di sventurati passeggeri nel disperato tentativo di riuscire a percorrere senza intoppi quella decina di chilometri che ti separano dalla prossima destinazione; si arriva immancabilmente verso sera, sudati e ricoperti di polvere, col deretano sformato e le articolazioni rese insensibili da ore ed ore di forzata immobilita'. Tutto cio' che si vuole a questo punto e' di avere a disposizione una comoda e confortevole camera in cui poter far riposare le proprie stanche membra e dimenticare il caldo e gli odori molesti della strada; niente di eccezionale tutto sommato, soltanto un po' di semplice normalita'. Non in Africa Occidentale! Alla costante ricerca delle sistemazioni piu' economiche in citta', e comunque di qualsiasi cosa che ... read more
Sullo sfondo il "Dente" di Man
La basilica di Yamoussoukro
Abidjan: il quartiere di Plateau visto dall'alto

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South December 27th 2016

Côte d’Ivoire, as they have requested we should now all be calling it (“Ivory Coast” is so last year), was not a place I ever thought I’d get to. On my previous and only West Africa trip in 2007, I skirted around the edge of it from Burkina Faso to Ghana as there was a nasty civil war going on. This has since been resolved (by Didier Drogba in his own opinion) and Côte d’Ivoire is getting back to how it was pre-civil war when it used to be the shining example of Francophone post-colonial success in a patch of generally corrupt and troubled countries. So I have the conference organisers of the RWSN (Rural Water Supply Network) to thank for deciding to host their 7th Forum here. The network is bilingual and had previously only ... read more
Old post office, Grand Bassam
Azuretti
Fixing the nets

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South » Abidjan December 7th 2015

Visit Abidjan cathedral, sort of in the shape of a suspension bridge, swing by the area where a lot of the city's Laundry is done in a local river, around 40 men pounding and slapping clothes into the water & over old tyres. 08/12/15 head to Grand Bassam Beach and camp at Drogba Beach; a simple beach resort. Next day take a stroll to the old colonial capital to see the interesting if not deteriorating old French architecture, highlight being the fishing village at the end of town with some very enthusiastic crews singing French shanties whilst heaving their nets in. Cook dinner with our cook group followed by a dance performance by a local group, cool drumming, girls, spirit devil outfits and flames. 3 of us head into Grand Bassam town with the dance crew ... read more
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Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » East » Yamoussoukro October 5th 2014

Yamoussoukro...my first thought arriving in this "village"....was how many school and hospitals could have they built with the money spent in this place...but more on this later... Yamoussoukro is 230km north of Abidjan. The place is the home village of the first President of Ivory Coast, independent sine 1960, I name Felix Houphouet-Boigny. The Predisent has been the ruler of his young country for 30 years, and has transformed his home village in a pretty interesting place...not sure I can call this place a nice place. Yamoussoukro is also used as the political of Ivory Coast for big national events. First, there is the highway...as good as many European highways... all the way to Yamoussoukro, putting the "village" to just over 2 hours by road from Abidjan. I took a taxi for the day, and Baboue ... read more
The Basilique can hold 18,000 people...
Yamoussoukro...
This is something...in the middle of nowhere...

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South » Abidjan October 4th 2014

What am I doing in Ivory Coast? Well, it's a funny story with the explanation coming next! Not easy to find out proper information about visiting Ivory Coast. As you will find out even on Travelblog, the last entry dates back to 2012...and there are way less than 80 entries on the country...that is maybe the number of entries on Bangkok...every single week! My first entry is on the capital, Abidjan...my second one will be on a village, that a lot of you have heard before...and on which I will be the first one to write about here. And yes, I'll even share few words about Ebola...at the end of the day, as of today, Ebola is just few hours on the road from Abidjan...so in the Ivory Coast capital....everybody is speaking about it...even if it ... read more
Cathedrale St Paul
Main topic of discussions here...after Ebola, the traffic jams!
Typical local urban architecture....

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire » South » Grand-Bassam May 7th 2012

Monday Day 51 We'd camped in a village not far beyond the border town and soon had a decent sized crowd gathered around us. Tents were pegged down in case the storm actually hit (it didn't) and cook team started setting up. Small things can excite us at this stage, like the prospect of meat for dinner after more than a week without due to weather and lack of ice but now we had ice and meat (and cold bottles of water!) and we sat around waiting. Usually there'd be more interaction with the locals but being bumped around and having to hold on and duck branches was draining so although maybe not much of an excuse, most sat quietly. Dinner was a delicious beef and rice stew and I went to bed soon after, desperate ... read more
Mechanics
Ready to go
Gorgeous scenery

Africa » Cote d'Ivoire August 14th 2009

So, nun nach ueber einem Monat in Liberia nochmal ein bisschen 'Abwechslung' hier im Blog, seit exakt einer Woche bin ich nun wieder unterwegs! Bis vorgestern Elfenbeinkueste, und nun Ghana. Der Flug von Monrovia nach Abidjan verlief abgesehen von einer 90min Verspaetung trotz nigerianischer Airline ereignislos, und am Flughafen hat schon Erikson, mein Couchsurfer auf mich gewartet. Luxus! Auf der Fahrt vom Flughafen zu seinem Appartment einmal quer durch die Stadt war ich ziemlich baff, es war dunkel und die Skyline, Neonreklamen-Schilder usw haben eher an Europa als an andere afrikanische Staedte erinnert. Auch wenn dieser Eindruch bei Tageslicht etwas relativiert wurde, war der Unterschied zu Monrovia doch erheblich. Ansonsten ist Abidjan riesig gross (irgendwas 3-5Mio), es gibt Autobahnen, Strassenlaternen, Villenviertel und eine relativ wohlhabende Mittelschicht. Das Appartment vo... read more




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